Chapter 8 - The Recording Cosmo Left Behind
The answer waited on another recording.
Cosmo had labeled it:
WHY SERAFINA FEARED THE CHILD
Aldrich did not want to press play.
Riona did.
Cosmo's voice filled the underground room.
“If Riona is pregnant, Serafina will understand immediately what that means.”
Aldrich glanced at Riona.
Cosmo continued.
“I amended the Ferrante family trust after Lucas died.”
Marc frowned.
“What trust?”
Aldrich knew.
Old family assets.
Properties.
Voting stakes.
Control of several companies.
“The amendment transfers controlling authority away from direct inheritance once Aldrich has a child.”
Riona stared.
“To whom?”
Cosmo answered as if he heard her.
“The assets pass into an independent protected trust for Aldrich's first child, managed until adulthood by the child's mother and an external fiduciary.”
Aldrich closed his eyes.
There it was.
Money.
Power.
Control.
Serafina had not feared Riona emotionally.
She feared her legally.
If Riona gave birth to Aldrich's child, Serafina would lose any future path toward controlling the Ferrante holdings through Aldrich.
Cosmo continued.
“I created the structure because I wanted the next generation free of the choices that trapped mine.”
Riona sat.
“So she framed me to remove me.”
“And hoped you wouldn't have the child,” Aldrich said.
Roland nodded.
“She believed stress and separation might end the pregnancy naturally.”
Riona's face changed.
Aldrich stared at Roland.
“Careful.”
“I am telling you what she said.”
Riona looked sick.
Cosmo continued.
“If she learns the child survived, she may attempt to challenge legitimacy.”
Riona looked at Aldrich.
“Paternity.”
He nodded.
“DNA.”
Cosmo's recording:
“Do not turn the child into a contest. Protect him from our name before you protect our name through him.”
The audio ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Riona laughed softly.
Not from humor.
“Your grandfather knew everything.”
“Not everything,” Aldrich said.
“He knew enough.”
“He still left you alone.”
Riona looked at him.
“So did you.”
The words were quiet.
They landed anyway.
Aldrich nodded.
“Yes.”
No defense.
Again.
Riona was beginning to understand that the Aldrich standing before her was not the man who had driven her away.
But she also knew people did not earn forgiveness simply by aging.
They earned it by changing.
Anel appeared later that afternoon.
He sat beside Aldrich on the estate's back steps.
Riona watched from inside.
Aldrich showed him how to skip stones across the pond.
He was terrible at it.
Anel was worse.
They laughed.
It was painfully ordinary.
Riona realized ordinary was what she had always wanted.
Not money.
Not the estate.
Not Ferrante power.
A kitchen where nobody whispered about alliances.
A child who knew his father.
A man who believed her.
Her phone rang.
Serafina.
Riona stepped into the hall.
“What?”
“Have you heard Cosmo's little confession yet?”
“Yes.”
“So now I'm the monster.”
“You framed me.”
“Yes.”
The bluntness surprised her.
“You admit it?”
“I admit I believed you were dangerous.”
“To whom?”
“To Aldrich.”
“I loved him.”
“Exactly.”
Riona frowned.
Serafina continued.
“Before you, Aldrich never questioned the family. After meeting you, he started talking about selling holdings. Leaving Montreal. Having children somewhere quiet.”
Riona remembered.
Maine.
Aldrich once mentioned buying a house in Maine.
A ridiculous fantasy at the time.
“You made him want a life outside us.”
“That isn't a crime.”
“To you.”
Riona gripped the phone.
“And Lucas?”
Serafina's voice changed.
“I loved Lucas.”
“Did you know Roland caused the crash?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six years later.”
“And you blackmailed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why not expose him?”
“Because useful guilt is more valuable than useless justice.”
Riona closed her eyes.
There was the Serafina Cosmo feared.
Cold logic dressed as family duty.
“What do you want now?”
“The ledger.”
“You have it.”
“I have one.”
Riona frowned.
“One?”
“Cosmo kept three.”
Of course.
“What do you want from me?”
“Bring Aldrich to the Laurentian house tomorrow.”
“He already intends to go.”
“I know.”
“What happens there?”
Serafina paused.
“Everything ends.”
The call disconnected.
Riona returned outside.
Aldrich noticed her face.
“She called.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Riona told him.
Marc searched property records.
The Laurentian house belonged to an old holding company.
Cosmo had used it decades earlier.
Aldrich planned to go.
Riona insisted on coming.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She asked for me alone.”
“And eight years ago you believed a folder because I wasn't allowed in the conversation. We're not repeating history.”
He stared.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
At noon the next day, they reached the house.
Snow had begun falling lightly across the Laurentians.
The building stood beside a frozen lake.
Serafina waited inside.
Alone.
No guards.
No Roland.
No dramatic trap.
Only a table.
The missing ledger lay on it.
Aldrich entered first.
Riona behind him.
Serafina looked at them.
“You came together.”
“Yes,” Aldrich said.
Serafina smiled sadly.
“Cosmo wins.”
“This isn't a game.”
“It always was to him.”
She pushed the ledger forward.
“Take it.”
Aldrich didn't move.
“Why?”
“Because I'm tired.”
Riona didn't believe her.
Serafina sat.
“For eight years I told myself I saved this family from you.”
She looked at Riona.
“Then I saw Anel yesterday.”
Riona stiffened.
Serafina continued.
“He has Aldrich's eyes.”
“Yes.”
“And Lucas's smile.”
Aldrich froze.
Serafina's face finally cracked.
“I forgot what children do to certainty.”
She looked toward the window.
“I spent decades protecting the Ferrante name. I became so afraid of losing it that I destroyed everyone it was supposed to represent.”
Riona remained cautious.
“Why contact us?”
“Because there's something in the ledger Cosmo never found.”
She opened it near the middle.
A page folded inward.
Aldrich read.
Dates.
Transfers.
Names.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Nathaniel Price.
Riona looked up.
“The lawyer?”
Serafina nodded.
“He wasn't simply Cosmo's attorney.”
Aldrich's expression hardened.
“What was he?”
Serafina answered.
“The man who convinced my father Lucas's death was an accident.”
Silence.
She tapped the ledger.
“And the man who paid Roland's father before the crash.”
Riona felt cold.
“Why?”
Serafina leaned back.
“Because Price has spent forty years manipulating both sides of this family.”
Aldrich stared at her.
“For what?”
Serafina gave him the final secret Cosmo never uncovered.
May you like
“To make sure the Ferrantes destroyed themselves without anyone ever having to attack us directly.”
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